Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Ice Age or Lion King characters. The Ice Age characters belong to Twentieth Century Fox, and The Lion King characters belong to Disney. All lines in bold are either from any of the Ice Age movies, any of the Lion King movies, Bolt, The Wild, either Brother Bear movie, or from a song that will be specified at the beginning of the applying chapter.
Chapter 38
Shira's P.O.V.
It is around 2:30 A.M. Diego is out hunting for a midnight snack for me. He's such a loyal and devoted mate. I rub a paw over my stomach and wonder how much longer it is going to be before the cubs are born. Diego's already been waiting for fifteen and a half weeks; I doubt he can stay sane much longer. As for me, I love the fact that I'm expecting cubs any day now, but I can do without the cramps that they give me. A kick comes against my paw. I can see the outline of a cub as it rolls over in my stomach. Once that cub settles down, another cub begins kicking and rolling over.
"You guys sure are active in there. If your daddy was here, he would think you're taking it too hard on me," I laugh.
More kicks come, these closer together than the others.
"I wonder when you guys are going to get here. Your daddy and I can't wait to meet you," I whisper.
"You're talking to your stomach? I thought the fact that I talk to inanimate objects was weird. I guess now it's not as crazy," Buck speaks up as he walks into the cave.
A gut-wrenching pain shoots through my body. The movement in my stomach is stronger than all of the kicks I felt earlier combined.
"Buck, get Diego!" I yell.
"What's going on?" Buck asks.
"Just go! NOW!" I roar as I clutch my stomach.
"I'll be back with Diego really soon!" Buck calls.
I hope Diego gets here fast.
Diego's P.O.V.
I am stalking a herd of gazelle, eager to get one for Shira. A twig snaps several feet ahead of me. The herd stampedes, and I mutter under my breath.
"Diego-poo!" Sid calls.
I know he is the one responsible for messing up my hunt.
"Are you nervous about becoming a father?" the sloth asks.
"No! No! No! You are dead wrong!" I persuade.
"Tiger!" Buck yells.
"What's wrong?" I nervously ask, panic overcoming my voice.
"Your cubs are coming!"
"It's happening!" I yell as I begin to run back to the cave.
Buck begins to chase after me. Somehow, Manny, Ellie, Crash, and Eddie show up.
"What's wrong?" Manny asks.
"Wait up, guys!" Sid pleads.
"The cubs are coming! The cubs are coming!" I yell, hoping I have made myself perfectly clear.
"Code Blue! Code Blue!" Crash shouts.
"Or pink, if it's a girl!" Eddie reminds.
"Shira's having the cubs! She's having the cubs! I'm coming, Shira!" I scream.
"What should we do to help?" Manny asks.
"Buck, you can go back and help Shira until I get back!" I command.
The rest of us begin to run over the rocks, for it is the quickest way back to the cave, and more importantly, Shira. The rocks jar from under us, and I struggle to hold on. The rest of the herd keeps moving, causing my claws to slip!
"Stop moving!" I command.
"Whoa!"Manny yells as he begins to fall.
Eventually, everyone stops moving, and I can get a better grip on the slippery rocks.
"Thank you,"I say as the rocks stop spinning.
The rocks break even more, and I slip further down.
"Manny! Ellie! Lock trunks! Now! Crash! Eddie! Grab on to that ledge!" I shout above the chaos.
"Funny! Now, what's your real plan?" the possum twins ask in disbelief.
"Just do it!" I demand.
"Bye, Eddie!" Crash sniffs.
"Bye, Crash!" Eddie cries.
"Bye, Ellie," both possums whine.
"Go now!" I roar at them.
They, surprisingly, listen, and grasp the ledge for dear life.
"Um- uh… I'm sorry. If what I said earlier offended you….." Manny directs to Ellie.
"What have you done now?" I think to myself, trying my hardest not to ask Manny that question.
"What do you mean, IF it offended me?"
Ellie releases her grip on Manny's trunk, and I begin to fall again.
"THAT it offended her! THAT it offended her!" all of us yell.
"I mean that- that it offended you. You just overreacted, that's all," Manny responds.
"What?!" Ellie gasps.
"Take it back!" Crash begs.
"There are other lives at stake here!" Eddie reminds.
Shira's P.O.V.
I make a face as more pain traveled through my body.
"Diego, where are you?" I cry in agony.
I trust that Buck went to get Diego, but I can't help but worry that my mate won't be here in time. Buck comes swinging in, his knife between his teeth. He was panting hard, but other than that, he seems to be fine.
"My paws are burning, baby! They're burning! I got to tip-toe. Tippy-toe! Tippy-toe!" Buck manically laughs.
"Excuse me, twinkle toes!" I roar in pain.
Buck stop laughing, and looks at me in concern.
"I AM having cubs here!" I groan as more pain goes through my body.
"Right. Sorry. You okay?" Buck cautiously asks.
"Am I OKAY? Do you know ANYTHING about childbirth?" I demand.
"No, not really, but Diego's coming!" Buck brings to my attention.
"Oh, thank goodness," I breathe.
I can't do this without my Softie being here! He promised he would be here when the cubs are born! I begin to breathe shallowly, hoping Diego has taught me the proper way to breathe.
"Buck, pass me some juniper!" I command.
"I don't know what juniper looks like!" Buck panics.
"It's the only one with berries on the stem!" I tell him.
I reach my paw out to grab the herd from Buck.
"Diego, please hurry back. I want you to see the cubs when they're born. This is the new chapter of our life," I silently direct to my mate.
Diego's P.O.V.
"Wait a minute. He's got a point," Sid defends Manny's honor.
"He's got nothing!" Crash and Eddie argue.
"It was a misunderstanding!" Sid tries.
"It was insensitive!" the possums tell Sid.
"Apologize!" I demand.
"Why me? She overreacted!" Manny tells me.
"I don't even know what you two are arguing about!" I silently think.
That's when I begin to slip further down, again.
"JUST APOLOGIZE!" I roar.
"No!"
"Do it!" I command.
"Okay, I'm sorry," Ellie says.
"What?" everyone else, including me, yells in confusion.
"He's right. I overreacted."
"You mean you-"Manny starts.
"Not another word or I'll come over there and push you over myself!" I threaten.
All I want right now is to get back to Shira and our cubs. The rocks continue to break, and I fear for the safety of the herd.
"Manny! Ellie! Run! Run!" I yell.
The rock under me breaks completely, and I try to jump to safety. I feel myself hanging in space. I look up to see Manny and Ellie. Both of them have their trunks around both of my forepaws.
"I guess we finally did something right together," Ellie tells Manny.
"Hey, don't mind me. Just hangin' off the edge of a cliff here. Hoo-hoo!" I nervously reply.
Manny and Ellie pull me up. As soon as my paws hit the ground, I take off running.
"Diego, where are you going?" Sid questions.
"I'm going to witness the miracle of life!" I call over my shoulder as I sprint away.
My legs carry me faster than they ever had in my entire life. I enter the cave in two minutes flat, even though I was previously a mile out.
"Shira! Shira, where are you?!" I yell.
"I'm back here!"
I follow the sound of Shira's voice, and find her in the back of the cave. I get behind my mate and curl my body around her. I begin to rub Shira's shoulder blades while licking her face in encouragement.
"Everything's going to be okay, Shira," I encourage.
"Diego, I'm scared. Can I hold your paw?" Shira nervously questions.
"Yeah, of course," I answer as I give my front left paw to Shira.
She squeezes the living daylights out of my paw, but that is okay. As long is Shira is confident, she can make it through this.
"AH!" Shira screams out suddenly.
"It's just a contraction," I comfort and lick behind her ears.
"No! AH!" Shira yells in alarm and points a paw at the entrance to the cave.
Noticing two blue dinosaurs, I let out the fiercest and loudest roar I can muster. The dinos creep closer.
"Whoa!" I call in alarm.
Shira look at me in fear.
"Don't worry about a thing. You're doing fine," I coax.
The closest dinosaur lets out a ferocious hiss.
"It's going great. Excuse me," I say as I jump up to kick some dinosaur butt.
I chase the dinosaurs towards the drop-off section of the cave. One false move in this region and you are as good as dead. I hit one dino over its head, and turn to walk back to Shira. However, a dinosaur grabs me and pulls me over the side of the cave. I am dangling over the ocean at this point.
"Just keep breathing!" I call to Shira.
"Diego!" Shira calls in panic.
"Just breathe! That's the important thing!" I remind as I bash two dinosaurs together.
I then get pulled down from behind.
"I liked you guys better when you were extinct!" a voice yells.
"Manny!" I shout.
I see Shira twist her face into one that shows she is in excruciating pain.
"I need to get to her! I'll protect Shira. You stop those guys," I tell my mammoth friend.
"But…"
"Manny, if they reach Shira, it'll be too late," I remind.
"You have to trust me," Manny tells me.
"Buddy, I've never doubted you," I reply.
"Let's do it," Manny returns.
I run back over to Shira and stand in defense before her. Though I drag a log in front of my mate, more dinos begin to close in. I get behind the log, directly in front of Shira ad try to push the log on top of the blue monsters.
"You can do it! Push! Push!" Shira encourages.
"I can't do it!" I argue.
The log is too heavy for me to push alone.
"Just one more big push!" Shira tells me.
"You have no idea what I'm going through!" I defend myself as I push the log.
"Really? I don't know what YOU'RE going through?" Shira says in disbelief as she shoots me a dirty look.
"Okay, forget I said that! Let's do this together," I recover.
The two of us push the log off our bed and catch the dinos by surprise.
I instantly turn my full attention to Shira.
"Breathe like this," I tell my mate as I give her a demonstration.
Shira begins to breathe shallowly, but I can't continue like this.
"Getting dizzy," I remark as my head begins to spin.
Manny climbs up to where Shira and I are.
"Manny! Come on, buddy, I think we're getting close," I hint.
"What have you got against the concept of a good night's sleep, huh?" Granny angrily asks.
"I'm sorry that our cubs are being born is bothering you!" I taunt.
"Finally, you accept your actions," the old bat remarks.
"Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, isn't it?" I respond.
"Hush up!" Granny says in a mad tone.
"I much rather would've had my cubs during the day, but you can't time these things," Shira purrs as I rub her shoulders.
A giant ripple goes through Shira's body. No sooner after this, do we hear a cub cry out. I hand the cub to Shira where she can lick our newborn to get his or her lungs working and heartbeat steady.
"The other cubs should be no problem," I whisper.
I feel a pain in my leg as I move around. Looking down, I notice that blood is pouring out of a wound in my leg. There's no time to stop and lick it now! I grab each cub and hand him or her to Shira, all with the exception of one. Two of the cubs are only three minutes apart, so it is double-duty in trying to clean them.
"Shira, you did fantastic," I congratulate.
Shira's P.O.V.
I feel something nip at my stomach. What is that? I look down and see my precious cubs beginning to nurse. They are so small and helpless, that I know they'll require constant attention. A sense of pride washes over me when I see their tiny faces.
"I can't believe I'm a mother now," I whisper.
"I can't believe I'm a father now," Diego says softly.
Diego creeps closer to me and nuzzles each cub gently. Next, he comes over to me, and licks my cheek and behind my ears.
"Those cubs are the most precious things I've ever seen, aside from Peaches," Manny tells us as he proudly looks at his nieces and nephews.
"How many cubs do we have? I was too busy giving them to you to count," Diego inquires.
I count the number of cubs that are curled around my tummy.
"We have eight cubs. Four are boys and the other four are girls," I reveal.
"They're beautiful, Shira. We make pretty good parents, if I do say so myself," Diego blushes.
"Nice work, Shira. Congratulations, you guys!" Manny cheers.
The mammoth begins to walk out of the den to give Diego and me privacy with our newborns.
I detect that something is wrong. I nervously look each cub over, but seeing nothing is wrong with my babies, I become confused. That's when I notice Diego. He is bleeding heavily from a wound in his leg.
"Diego, you're bleeding!" I panic.
"I guess one of those dinosaurs scratched me up while I was defending you," he nonchalantly replies.
"Come here, Diego," I command.
My mate does what I ask, and lies right in front of my face. I gently wipe my tongue over the wound to try and get the bleeding to stop. Diego looks over at the cubs, and I see a single tear escape his eye.
"I saw that, tough guy," I smirk.
"That last dino caught my eye with a claw and….." Diego starts.
"You're in love with them already," I smile.
"All right, so I'm not made of stone," Diego laughs.
"Let's name them," I suggest.
"That seems like a good idea," Diego replies.
Diego's P.O.V.
I look down at the eight cubs that are trying to crawl over my mate. It has always been my wish to have cubs, and here they are! My eight little bundles of joy steal my heart every moment I look at them. Fortunately, Shira remembers the order they were born in, because at this stage, I can't tell.
"Two of our sons look exactly like you, Diego," Shira tells me.
True to what my mate said, our oldest cub and our third cub look exactly like me.
"We should start with naming the first-born," I say.
"He looks exactly like you, so let's name him Diego Jr.," Shira says.
"I like that. Hi, Junior," I whisper as I see my little son crawl towards me.
His white underbelly touches the ground, and his orange pelt contrasts majorly from Shira's. My son is the perfect copy of me, so it fits that he is named after me. Our second-born is a female cub that looks exactly like her mother. She is white with several stripes on her tiny body.
"She's beautiful, just like her mother," I speak up.
"What do you want to name her, Diego?" Shira asks.
"Her name is Lily. Lily is the perfect name for her," I reveal.
"I love it!" Shira purrs.
Our next cub is another son. He is the other cub that looks exactly like me.
"I'll name him where you can name our next daughter," I tell Shira.
"Perfect. What will you name our second son?"
"His name is Hunter, because he looks like he'll make a really great hunter," I grin.
Our next cub is a female, who is white with pale gray stripes. She is the fourth cub of our litter, and she already seems to have an adventurous spirit, because she has climbed halfway up Shira's stomach while the other cubs are either still nursing or sleeping.
"Her name is Icicle," Shira announces.
"That's lovely. I'll name the next male cub," I say.
I look at my fifth cub. His tiny body reminds me of someone. The saber he reminds me of was lost to me when I was eight weeks old. My son's orange body is covered in stripes, just like my father's was.
"Our son shall be named Will, after my father," I tell Shira.
Somehow as if he hears me name him, Will turns over and meows at me.
The cubs are so strong and healthy, even though they're a few minutes old. Our sixth cub is another female, and she doesn't look as much like me as the other orange cubs do. She's solid orange, with no other colors on her whatsoever.
"This will be our little Rose," Shira says as she licks our daughter's head.
"Why Rose?" I question with a goofy smile on my face.
"Whenever we had a date, and even when we went on our honeymoon, the atmosphere smelled like roses," Shira laughs.
"That might have been the idea," I hint.
The seventh cub is another male. He is the only boy cub that has the same pelt as his mother. He has white fur with stripes, just like Shira. I look outside of the cave, and notice a snow storm is taking place.
"There's a blizzard going on outside," I tell Shira.
"That's a perfect name for our son," Shira responds.
"What?" I ask in a confused tone.
Shira's P.O.V.
"Blizzard is the perfect name for our snow-colored son. The cubs have been born during the first blizzard of the season, so let's remember that," I tell my mate.
The youngest cub is a girl, and she's also the smallest. Her fur is solid white, and I'm already worried we'll lose her in the snow when she starts to walk. Diego looks her over, contemplating what to name our precious daughter.
"Her name is Snowflake," Diego announces.
Snowflake somehow finds Diego and curls up between her daddy's paws. Within a few seconds, her tiny sides are rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern, which tells me she is asleep.
"Someone's going to be Daddy's little girl," I smile as Diego gently licks Snowflake head. So, here's the recap in case you forgot our cubs' names. Our four boys are Diego Jr., Hunter, Will, and Blizzard. Our daughters are Lily, Icicle, Rose, and Snowflake.
"I'm going to go hunting for you, Shira," Diego tells me as he places Snowflake back against my tummy.
To snuggle with my cubs, I protectively wrap my right forepaw around Lily, Will, Rose, and Blizzard. Junior, Hunter, Icicle, and Snowflake are asleep against my stomach and flank. With all of the cubs asleep, I let a yawn escape my mouth. Bringing eight cubs into the world is hard work, and I now deserve some rest. I don't toss and turn, because I am that tired and I don't want to crush the cubs. My life is perfect with both Diego and our cubs by my side.
Author's Note: Shira and Diego are going to have their paws full. *smile* There are only two chapters left of this FanFiction, but the sequel, New Beginnings, will continue where this one leaves off. I appreciate all of the views! If you would like, please comment on which cub you like the best, based off of either their name or physical description. Thanks again!